University is weathering budget storm, now growing again

The University of Alaska is successfully navigating seven years of cuts in state funds and is now focused on its core mission of strengthening the state by producing an educated Alaska workforce, University Interim President Pat Pitney said in remarks in the annual “State of the University” address to Alaska community and business leaders last week.

Pitney’s key message was that state funding stability, following several years of reductions, is the key to creating confidence in the university among students and Alaskan families.

The belt-tightening has been tough, though. There are 2,500 fewer university employees than a few years ago, 1,000 of these full-time faculty or staff, Pitney said. Administration functions have been cut, with a 60 percent reduction in state funding and 21 percent reduction in staff since Fiscal Year 2014, a high point in state funding.

However, the storm is being weathered. Early program applications and admissions are now rising, a signal of confidence. Spring semester applications for degree programs are up 10 percent university-wide, and admissions so far are up five percent. Programs that are growing in enrollment are engineering, management, fisheries and health care.

“At UAF, and soon at UAA we have adjusted (tuition) pricing to meet the amount provided by the federal tuition assistance benefit and eliminates out-of-pocket expense for military students,” Pitney said.

Weathering the pandemicGenerally, the university is handling the impacts of the pandemic, with a smooth shift from in-class teaching to online in most programs. “Based on enrollment statistics we found that schools and colleges that were already heavily into distance delivery have managed the best through the pandemic,” Pitney said.

In fact, some of them have seen significant growth in their enrollment, such as Sitka, Ketchikan, UAF’s School of Management and the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. “Each of these had already utilized distance delivery. In fact, UAF’s School of Management’s online business program rate high in U.S. News & World Report’s national ranking,” she said.

However, some schools were negatively affected, largely the community and technical programs that had more hands-on classes, like automotive repair, airgframe and power plant mechanics, process technology, dental hygiene and dental assistant.

“To accommodate, we have structured these classes for social distancing, meaning fewer students in the course. This had a big impact on our enrollment (in these classes) and we look forward to getting back to normal next fall and filling these classes,” Pitney said.

Alaskans without degrees – a big marketA major focus now for the state university is the large percentage of Alaskans who have not attended college or only some college, and who could see substantial gains in income with completion of a degree.

“Help us reach the segment of students who may not see that college is possible,” Pitney asked community leaders. “Demand stability in state support for the university so we can focus on building enrollment in our certificate and degree programs that are so essential to our state’s economic recovery,” she said.

Pitney outlined UA’s resizing due to years of budget cuts and the core programs that will remain, and emphasized the intrinsic link between university programs and industry jobs. “Employers, from hospitals to oil companies to school districts, are asking for our graduates,” she s aid. “Degrees pay.”

The average annual wage of a high school graduate is $35,000. An Associate Degree brings salaries up to $44,600, and a baccalaureate (four year) degree to $58,000,” Pitney said. “A graduate or professional degree increases income to $77,000 per year,” on average. Attainment of a degree has a huge impact on the state’s economy because most university graduates remain in the state working.

Programs tailored to special needsUA degree programs range from short courses like certified nurse assistants and associate degrees to bachelor’s degrees in nursing, accounting, finance, business management and teaching. Many state public health officials have UA masters’ degrees in public health management.

“Industry wants every engineer we can graduate from both the UAF and UAA programs,” Pitney said. Although the two universities offer separate engineering programs–UAA is orientated more to structural “vertical” construction and UAF toward “horizontal,” mostly transportation–basic courses are shared for efficiency.

UA has also designed several programs to be completed in months in fields like health and fisheries technology, as well as one-year programs in airframe and power mechanics, one of only seven such programs approved in the U.S. Pitney said UA now has several “fast-track” programs for Alaskans displaced in the COVID-19 recession, helping them gain new skills for when the economy comes back.

“We have fewer programs, with more than 50 cut, but our focus remains on keeping the foundation of academic and workforce programs. Some are thinly staffed and collaborations across units are necessary to address gaps,” Pitney said.